Kurtz highlights TNR criticism of Maddow, ignores progressive enthusiasm.
Kurtz highlights TNR criticism of Maddow, ignores progressive enthusiasm.
Earlier this week, MSNBC announced that Air America host Rachel Maddow will be getting her own show starting on Sept. 8. Responding to the news, The New Republic’s Sacha Zimmerman wrote that “the Dawn of Maddow” was indicative of how Americans are “refusing to acknowledge anything but spite, paranoia, and conspiracy theory when it comes to the other side.” Liberals across the blogosphere responded to Zimmerman’s claims in force. But in his Media Notes column today, the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz highlights only Zimmerman’s critique, not any of the pushback:
The news that Air America’s Rachel Maddow is getting her own MSNBC show draws only qualified praise from the New Republic’s Sacha Zimmerman.
As Glenn Greenwald argues, Kurtz and Zimmerman are buying into the absurd notion that “Liberalism is inherently shrill and unserious — even when advocated by a smart and sober commentator like Maddow.”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
And why should any of this be a surprise?
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:58 pmThat “failed experiment” is still on the air and Rachel plays on other liberal radio stations. Air America is still on XM and Sirius radio as well except when they air the Randi Rhodes show instead of whatever is on Air America. And the ratings are soaring. Thomm Hartman is even beating out Rush and O’Reilly in markets where he airs opposite them.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 pmGood golly5, how do you explain Phil Donahue’s ratings when he was canned from the air for being an anti-war voice?
Guess when you’re a mindless sheep, facts don’t matter…when you have the shrill voices emanating from the radio from such patriotic Americans as Rush Limbaugh and Sean “it’s okay to commit adultery if you’re a Republican” Hannity
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:03 pmIt’s fairly easy to look “shrill” when one’s questions and concerns are ignored over and over.
Rather than blame unresponsive “public servants”, incumbents shoot the messenger.
Bravo to Rachael. Maybe she can get her questions answered.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:03 pmYeah, because Billo the Clown, Senator Glenn Beck McCarthy and Sean “Whiplash” Hannity don’t make a mockery out of the conservative agenda already by distorting reality to fear monger and appeal to 20-26% of white neocon America. If people like these where anymore backwards, time would start moving back towards the 1950’s!
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 pmIt’s typical for them to denigrate Rhodes Scholar Maddow just like they did Bill Clinton. Just like they are saying bottom of his class McCain is qualified to be president although he would have been thrown out of the naval academy if daddy and gramps weren’t admirals. But Barack Obama who graduated first in his class at Harvard Law isn’t qualified. Intelligence means nothing to the Rethugs. They equate intelligence with elitism but then again what can you expect from nimrods who don’t know arugula is lettuce they eat all the time without even knowing it.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:05 pmGG5 is taken in by the right-wing propaganda machine which wants to suggest that the free market is at work here with all the liberal radio stations going off the air, forgetting that many times the right-wing is BUYING out the stations. Perhaps it is because they are scared of the prospect that talk radio might have a countering voice…
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:06 pmRush is a carbuncle on the ass of life and unfit shine Maddow’s shoes.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:08 pmHere in San Diego, 760 KFMB-AM has a line-up of Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Michael Savage. And the local hack is Rick Roberts, who does make appearances on Billo, Beck and Hannity’s TV shows.
Oh, KFMB also is the CBS TV network affiliate.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:13 pm.
Howard Kurtz is proof that Loyal Nationalists hate a free exchange of ideas.
.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:14 pmHate Radio is a phenom who’s demise is near.
They’re very concerned that another view doesn’t enter the format.
The Fairness Doctrine scares the living Hell out of them.
MSNBC saw what Olbermann has done, & want more. Look for Ed Schultz to appear on TV in the not too distant future, as well.
Hey Rush, Insannity…
BOO!
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:14 pmIs that the best you can do TK13? Talking points? That’s straight out from what GOP spokespeople say…doom and gloom…haha word for word verbatim…
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:19 pmAir America is not a negative station, nor are their affiliates. Anyone who has ever listened to Hannity, Ingraham, O’Reilly and Savage and Limbaugh would know hate filled radio.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:19 pmAir America does its part to dispel the rumor and present the fact – apparently something too “foreign” to conservative hate radio listeners.
And TripleKick 13 continues to be a dismal financial failure with no audience because people simply don’t want to listen to angry nonsensical doom and gloom negativity 24/7.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:20 pmMarie Says:
Air America is not a negative station, nor are their affiliates. Anyone who has ever listened to Hannity, Ingraham, O’Reilly and Savage and Limbaugh would know hate filled radio.
Air America does its part to dispel the rumor and present the fact – apparently something too “foreign” to conservative hate radio listeners.
it must be painful for them to think…
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:23 pmCheese and Crackers Says:
Kurtz and Zimmerman are buying into the absurd notion that “Liberalism is inherently shrill and unserious…
——————————————————-
All one needs to do is read through the profanity-laced comments at websites such as ThinkProgress (or HuffPo, Kos etc) to have that “absurd notion” confirmed.
Blow it out your trombone, you elitist little jerk!
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:28 pmgood_golly5 Says:
Her ratings will likely be as bad on MSNBC as they were on the failed experiment known as Air America.
ZING! What a prognosticator you are lil giggles :-)
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 pmDrippie and CheesyCroaker, it must be very difficult to live with so few functioning brain cells…
But then again, you both mindlessly parrot what you’re told by your masters, so I guess brain cells are irrelevant.
Never mind.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 pmWhy do repugs continue to say Air America has failed? It is growing more popular all along.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:30 pmTripleKick 13 Says:
Air America continues to be a dismal financial failure with no audience because people simply don’t want to listen to angry nonsensical doom and gloom negativity 24/7.
Hahaha, yea, because Rush/Hannitizer/Weiner/Beck are just bowls of sunshine.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 pmSorry, but the complete destruction of the founding principles of anyone’s country should cause them to come across a bit “shrill”.
Or, perhaps we should just be good little citizens and ignore it and shut up or find some way to help a multi-national corporation make money off of it.
You can not ignore the truth of tragedy behind the alarm bells being sounded.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:32 pmSaying it doesn’t make it so, Cheezy.
Randi is bawdy and rude at times, sure, but she’s far from unhinged like Savage.
Of course, if your political views line up close to Savage, I guess you could see him as balanced for Randi. If you, for instance think that liberalism is a “mental disease”, that would explain a lot.
And sorry to break it to you, but comments sections of political blogs aren’t really a good representation of the type of people who comprise different political movements. And profanity in those comments isn’t much of an indication of the value of ideas supported by those movements.
But, if it makes you feel superior, far be it from me to burst your illusion.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pmCheese and Crackers Says:
Duh…
Main Entry:
lib·er·al·ism Listen to the pronunciation of liberalism
Pronunciation:
\?li-b(?-)r?-?li-z?m\
Function:
noun
Date:
1819
1: the quality or state of being liberal2 aoften capitalized : a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity b: a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard c: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties dcapitalized : the principles and policies of a Liberal party
If you could clarify, what exactly about the above definition is “shrill and unserious?”
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pmTalk radio is far and away a tool of the LIV and less intelligent people. If you look at the demographics, most Progressives get their information from more 21st Century sources and have a higher education level and higher IQs.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:34 pmMarie, they have so little else to believe in. Let’s leave this this little delusion.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:34 pmTripleKick 13 Says:
——————————————————————————–
Air America continues to be a dismal financial failure with no audience because people simply don’t want to listen to angry nonsensical doom and gloom negativity 24/7.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
As opposed to the message of enlightenment and love provided by Fat Bastard Limpballs and Dild0 O’Lielly …….
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:35 pmCheese and Crackers Says:
——————————————————————————–
Blow it out your trombone, you elitist little jerk!
——————————————————
Heh!
Good one.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Ladies and Gentlemen
May I present to you , Duke Ellington , Jr ……….In all his uselessness
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:37 pmCheese and Crackers Says:
Blow it out your trombone, you elitist little jerk!
——————————————————
Heh!
Good one.
I’m not sure if you actually got it…
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:38 pmCheese and Crackers Says:
Give me a true liberal like Truman or JFK and I might consider voting Democrat again.
That’s rich.
Seriously, why do you think McCain is the best candidate? His age? His wealth? His pandering? His temper? What about that guy “fires you up?”
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:39 pmMCMetal Says:
May I present to you , Duke Ellington , Jr ……….In all his uselessness
I think his stage name should by Dookie Smellington.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:40 pmCheese, all one needs to do is hear V.P. speak to the Leahy on the Senate floor or the President offer some curse laden advice while masticating on a hot, buttered roll.
Cheney-the “F” word
Bush- the “S” word
You must be proud…
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:43 pmCheese and Crackers Says:
——————————————————————————–
Tweedster,
If you could clarify, what exactly about the above definition is “shrill and unserious?”
—————————————————-
Nothing.
I wish the Democratic Party would embrace those traditional liberal ideals and shake themselves loose from the crackpot Left which has dragged the party into the gutter.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
As opposed to where the GOP has headed in the last 30 years , being run by neocons and religious yahoos ; yeah , that’s certainly much better.
You’re a tool……….
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:49 pmAllow me to say, with all due respect: what a crock of shit. I suspect you would have hated Kennedy. And Truman too.
The only reason they appeal to you now is because of the black-and-white prism of established history that makes it safe to do so.
Both were liberals in the same tradition that is followed today by Russ Feingold and Kennedy’s brother Ted.
When a tighty-righty professes to admire JFK or Truman, I smell a wingnut trying to burnish his “non-partisan” credentials. It’s a farce.
With all due respect, of course.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:52 pmAgain, respectfully, bullshit.
The current political climate has been shifted so far to the right that there is no viable “left” in American politics anymore. The spectrum runs from far right to center-left, maybe even center-right.
The Democratic Party has serious flaws, but being led by the “crackpot left” isn’t one of them.
Sounds like more projection from the right to me.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:55 pmralph, it’s like all the “independent” trolls we see here from time to time. Somehow, despite being “independent” they always only manage to bash Democrats while praising the GOP to the high heavens.
All while being “independent”.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:59 pmExactly right, Frosty.
If they were truly independent, we could tell pretty quickly from their posts. They wouldn’t have to insist.
Admittedly, some regulars here will jump all over anyone who disagrees, and label them a troll, and maybe that draws out antagonism. But a poster who was truly open-minded and independent, someone who was truly capable of supporting a good Democrat would show up that way in the threads.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pmFrosty Cupcake Says:
——————————————————————————–
ralph, it’s like all the “independent” trolls we see here from time to time. Somehow, despite being “independent” they always only manage to bash Democrats while praising the GOP to the high heavens.
All while being “independent”.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:59 pm Recommend (1) | Report Abuse
——————————————————————————–
ralph the wonder llama Says:
——————————————————————————–
Exactly right, Frosty.
If they were truly independent, we could tell pretty quickly from their posts. They wouldn’t have to insist.
Admittedly, some regulars here will jump all over anyone who disagrees, and label them a troll, and maybe that draws out antagonism. But a poster who was truly open-minded and independent, someone who was truly capable of supporting a good Democrat would show up that way in the threads.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
It’s even more evident (and incredibly funny to me) , because I’ve been a registered Independent for years , as have many of my friends ; and not a 1 of them defends Chimpy and McDepends like the clowns here …………
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:07 pmLet’s not leave Neal Boortz out! (Last name is pronouced exactly like the sound of gas leaving ones arse!) He’s know as Mr. Negativity in the Atlanta area! Never has a posituve thing to say about anything,unless he patting himself on the back!
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:17 pmHe’s told so many lies about himself,that it has become next to impossible for Boortz or his staff to keep them straight. Anything that been written in his bios that turns ought to a lie,Boortz (never the man to own up,) blames it on his staff! He’s scared,really scared the “Fairness Doctrine” might actually be put to use! That would signal the end to right-wing radio as it is know today!
I’ll be nice to get Maddow’s commentary on a regular basis without Olbie’s influence. She’s a good source of the views of the left when freed from Olbie’s pompous showmanship and silly obsession with O’Reilly.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:39 pmThe Kurtz reaction is simple: Maddow represents the future and the old boys are afraid. Period
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:57 pmI will watch her show.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:17 pmKO and RM pretty much negates the propaganda from Sean, Bill, Rush, and the rest of the RW chorus. That’s what drives them nuts. The Right is shelling out big money to brainwash Americans and KO/RM negate that investment.
BTW, isn’t Howie’s wife feeding in the Republican trough? He’s obviously not objective when it comes to media criticism.
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 amOne of the best things about Rachael is she can take all this flak and keep on telling the truth.
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 amGO MADDOX